Thanks to  jean@riverview.net  for scanning this in and sending
it to me for placement on the cdn-firearms web site.

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 THE ARMED CITIZEN  September 97

  When two men wearing Halloween masks, one of them armed, entered her
  Indianapolis, Indiana, apartment, Wajibu Wynn knew they were not
  trick-ortreaters. She awoke to hear a commotion in her living room
  and reached for her pistol. Her sister had been accosted by one of
  the men after having been sprayed with a Mace-like chemical spray.
  The men were forcing the woman to a back bedroom when Wynn emerged
  with her gun and shot one of the intruders. killing him. The second
  attacker fled, but was apprehended a short time later. (The Srar,
  Indianapolis, IN, 5/16/97)

 Former police officer Fred Prasse was in a St. Louis, Missouri, pawn
 shop one afternoon when three men stormed into the business. One of
 the robbers pressed a shotgun against Prasse's head and threatened to
 kill him. Concerned for himself and the store's employees, Prasse
 spun around, knocking the shotgun away but not before it discharged,
 striking him in the hands. Undaunted by the injury, Prasse used a
 Judo move to knock his attacker back when the man came back at him
 swinging the shotgun like a club. The move gave the former law
 officer time to draw a.38 and end the whole episode with several
 fatal shots. The two other men fled, but were later arrested when
 they showed up at a hospital, where they sought help as one of them
 had been struck by the shotgun blast during the holdup. (The Post
 Disparch, St. Louis, MO, 5/30/97)

 When two armed men entered his Lexington, North Carolina, pawn shop,
 put a .38 cal. pistol to his head, and forced him to the back of the
 store. William Grist knew he had to act quickfy. He grabbed his
 assailant's pistol and then pulled one of his own, shooting the
 would-be robber in the stomach. The bandit ran for the door, but
 Grist pursued and fired at both thugs as they ran from the store.
 They were later arrested along with a woman who had helped them case
 the store. (The Dispatch, Lexington, NC,5/21/97) Located in a
 crime-plagued West Tampa, Florida, neighborhood, Victor Eiias'jewelry
 store was a prime target for a holdup. Elias knew this and was ready
 when one day two men entered his store and announced they were armed.
 One vaulted the counter, and a struggle ensued between him and Elias,
 during which Elias shot the robber. The second suspect fled, but was
 later apprehended along with an alleged getaway driver. (The Tribune,
 Tampa, FL, 5/21/97)

 A Birmingham, Alabama, family's night of terror came to an end after
 a 16year-old youth defended his mother and siblings from his mother's
 estranged husband, who had been threatening to shoot into the home
 all evening. Frightened, the family barricaded itself in an upstairs
 bedroom. When their tormentor broke into the house via a back door,
 his vioience was answered by the youth, who delivered several fatal
 shots through the bedroom door. The youth was not charged. (The News,
 Birmingham, AL, 5/29/97)

 Anne Barry of Bowling Green, Kentucky, knows the importance of having
 a firearm. "If I hadn't had that gun, I wouldn't have had a chance:'
 she said. She was asleep alone in her home when she heard the sound
 of her garage door being broken in. She grabbed her .357 Mag,
 revolver and waited for the intruder, who appeared in her hallway
 brandishing a pistol. As he turned to look into another room, she
 fired once, hitting the man. He fled, but was arrested for an alleged
 break-in not far from Barry's home. "If he would have turned around,
 he would have killed me. It was survival. It was him or me," she
 said. Police lauded Barry's actions. (The Daily News, Bowling Green,
 KY, 5/14/97)

 Two Gainesville, Florida, crooks proved to what lengths criminals
 will go to prey on the unsuspecting. Posing as police officers, the
 two would force people to pull over by flashing their headlights and
 then rob them at gunpoint. The ruse backfired one evening, however,
 when the men forced Thomas Lever to the side of the road. As one of
 the bandits, brandishing a gun, jumped from his car and approached
 Lever in his van, the citizen pulled a pistol of his own, sending the
 suspect running back to his car. Both suspects quickly left the
 scene. (The Sun, Gainesviile, FL, 5/17/97)

 A Norristown, Pennsylvania, woman was walking home when she was
 viciously attacked by two pit bulls. Hearing the woman's screams,
 Ernest C. Webb came to the rescue with his .380 cal. pistol after
 first calling 911. When one of the dogs turned on him, he shot it,
 hitting it in the leg. Both dogs ran off. The dogs are thought to
 belong to drug dealers who use them for protection and enforcement in
 the high-crime neighborhood. (The Times Herald, Norristown, PA,
 5/24/97)

 A late-night commotion in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, doughnut shop
 caused an employee to investigate with his pistol at the ready. He
 found a female clerk being held on the counter by a man who had a
 knife pressed to her neck. The male employee, a cook, ordered the man
 to drop the knife, and when the attacker failed to comply, the cook
 fired his pistol. The robber ran, but was found near the scene, dead
 of a gunshot wound. (The Journal, Albuquerque, NM, 5/22/97)
..................:.............
  After seeing heavy police activity in his neighborhood and hearing
  that two suspects were being pursued, Tom Samonek of Zephyrhills,
  Florida, loaded his Colt pistol and decided to inspect a barn and
  abandoned mobile home on his property. Returning home, he and his
  wife found the fugitives in their house. Samonek ordered the pair to
  lie on the floor and held them until police arrived. They were
  wanted in conjunction with a car theft and a two-county car chase.
  It was the third time in as many years Samonek has used his firearm
  to subdue an attacker without firing a shot. (The Times, Pasco, FL,
  6/10/97) rl


AMERICAN GUARDIAN · September 1997